Enjoying the Hospitality of the King
by sazza-da-vampire
Summary: Family Matters. Legolas brings home a fellow warrior from war in the south of Mirkwood. Meanwhile, Bilbo Baggins draws his own conclusions regarding the Elvenking when he discovers an interesting piece of gossip regarding a female elf held prisoner by the King. What does a girl-elf have to do to get put in jail by her own King?


Disclaimer: I own nothing recognisable.

Enjoying the Hospitality of the King

Rílglín returned to the Elvenking's Halls, never noticing the shadow which slipped inside the great gates on his heels. The scout cheerfully bid farewell to his patrol, and entered a hallway which led up further into the stronghold, towards his father's apartment.

Rílglín caught the Prince's attention as they passed in the corridor. "Prince Legolas! How are you this fine day? You got Aldanna back quickly, I trust?"

Legolas grinned at him. "I did. She is currently enjoying the King's hospitality."

"I shall have to visit her, then. Poor girl didn't deserve that."

Bilbo left, utterly sure that the Elvenking would put his own people behind bars with even the smallest provocation. He had snuck in and out of the Halls a number of times during the past weeks, and only in the last day had these two particular Elves arrived from assignments in the south. Bilbo had seen the one called Aldanna, an Elf with blonde hair, who had been tied up in thick strands of sticky web when the Prince had carried her to the Halls, thrown over his shoulder.

Now, Bilbo had met the giant spiders of Mirkwood, so he knew where the web came from, but he also knew that the Dwarves believed they had been detained for injuring and killing spiders. Bombur had been particularly insistent that if they had left the spiders alone, they would have been allowed to pass through Mirkwood unmolested.

Now, it had been some time since Bilbo had a decent hobbit-sized meal, so he might not had been thinking entirely clearly, but he was beginning to concur with the overweight Dwarf. After all, after overhearing this latest conversation between the Prince and the scout, he was sure that the Elf must have committed some great crime, for the Prince to tie her up in spider-web-rope!

Bilbo crept down towards the row of storerooms, where the Dwarves were being held. Kili and Fili allowed him a nibble at their dinners, for Bilbo caught them at a meal-time. Sitting outside Kili's cell, Bilbo recounted his story of the imprisoned Elf-girl.

"We'll never get out of here," Kili grumbled. "That Elf-King's half mad. You said he put a girl elf in prison?"

"That's what I heard. I saw the Prince arrive with her yesterday, all tied up in spider webs, like rope. And today I heard a scout ask about her, and he said _enjoying the King's hospitality_."

Kili shook his head in disgust. "What would you have to do to get put in jail, if you were an Elf-girl in an Elf-kingdom?" he wondered aloud.

Bilbo shrugged, remembered he was invisible, and said, "I don't know. I would imagine something violent, because that web rope she was tied up in looked painfully tight."

Meanwhile, three levels up and seven hallways across, Legolas and Rílglín tentatively knocked on the door to the healing ward. "My we please see Aldanna?" Legolas asked the healer, Sílmariel.

The elleth nodded sharply, and opened the door wider to allow the Prince and the scout entry.

Malthon had finished treating Aldanna's spider bites, and was busy talking to his daughter, attempting to wake her from her coma. "Aldanna," he said as the two ellyn entered the room, "look, your friends are here. Legolas helped me carry you back here, you know, so you'll have to wake up to thank him for his effort. And he brought Rílglín. It's entirely his fault, isn't it? The spiders got you because Rílglín didn't warn us of the nest. You'll have to tell him off sometime."

Rílglín opened his mouth to protest his innocence, but Malthon looked up and winked mischievously. The scout shook his head, mouthing to Legolas, _such a child_, and then both erupted into laughter.

"How's she doing?" Rílglín asked, sitting in the chair on the other side of Aldanna's sickbed to Malthon.

Her father shrugged noncommittally. "She's got no worse. We got her here in time, and the anti-venom seems to be doing its job. She has a concussion, and I am worried about coup and contra-coup injuries. Her arms are fractured, the left radius and the right elbow, which was also dislocated."

"Yes, you reduced those in the field before running off home," Rílglín nodded, stroking Aldanna's motionless left hand. "Anything else?" he asked, finally looking at Malthon rather than Aldanna.

As Malthon listed off the other injuries Aldanna sported as a result of her disagreement with three spiders, both Rílglín and Legolas fought back tears, because their dear friend had definitely not deserved so much trauma, especially so soon after successfully driving the Necromancer, Sauron, out of Dol Guldor.


End file.
